Security

SonicWall Warns SMBs and Highlights the Importance of Not Fighting Alone

by VARINDIA 2025-02-27

SonicWall today released the 2025 SonicWall Annual Cyber Threat Report, revealing a continued onslaught of cyberattacks on small and mid-sized
businesses (SMBs). Once exclusively targeting large enterprises, threat actors now use more efficient targeting and AI-driven attacks making it clear that SMBs and organizations of all sizes can’t fight this battle alone — relying on the expertise of a trusted Managed Service Provider (MSP) to defend at-risk revenue and protect the integrity of brands and organizations.

SMBs are facing a storm of cyber threats, as attackers leverage automation, AI, and advanced evasion techniques to evade traditional defenses. These evolving tactics make it nearly impossible for businesses to defend themselves without dedicated cybersecurity expertise. As attack surfaces expand and the time to exploit vulnerabilities shrinks, SMBs must prioritize proactive security measures.

“Threat actors are moving at an unprecedented pace, exploiting new vulnerabilities within days, while we’re observing that it takes some organizations 120 to 150 days to apply a critical patch. Now more than ever, businesses need the expertise of an MSP/MSSP backed by with real-time threat monitoring and SOC capabilities. Legacy security solutions are no longer enough, businesses must adopt a new mindset to stay ahead of modern cyber threats,” said Bob VanKirk, President and CEO.

“Threat actors are moving faster than ever, exploiting vulnerabilities with unprecedented speed. As outlined in the 2025 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, to stay ahead, cybersecurity professionals must not only match but surpass this pace, and they will need help to do it. Leveraging real-time threat intelligence, automation, and proactive defense strategies will help counteract emerging threats before they escalate," said SonicWall Vice President of Sales,
APJ Debasish Mukherjee.

The report provides insight, in particular for SMBs, and highlights why businesses of all sizes shouldn’t go it alone in the fight against cybercrime. SonicWall is aggressively growing our network of managed service providers to defend SMBs against the ever-evolving threat actors.

The report shares that Ransomware continues to rise, increasing 8% in North America and surging 259% in Latin America. Malware spiked 8% year-
over-year, while IoT attacks jumped 124% and encrypted threats climbed 93%. The 2025 SonicWall Mid-Year Cyber Threat Report provides insight on a range of threats, including:

AI Automation Tools Lower Barrier for Entry While Increasing Attack Complexity - Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks became a critical cybersecurity concern in 2024, marked by a dramatic 452% increase compared to 2023.
Staggering Spike in Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks – Nearly one-third of all reported cyber events were BEC attacks, up dramatically from only 9% in 2023.
The Escalation of Ransomware Attacks in 2024 – Ransomware was far and away the biggest threat to the healthcare industry, utilized in 95% of all breaches in this sector.
Living Off the Land Binaries (LOLBins): No Laughing Matter – LOLBins are integral to fileless malware campaigns, where attackers utilize native system tools to avoid leaving traditional artifacts, thus evading detection by conventional signature-based solutions.

The findings indicate that organizations struggle to keep their businesses safe from the ever-present cyber threats, and the data that we gather paints a clear picture of the growing challenges they face. From ransomware surges to the rapid rise in IoT and encrypted threats, businesses are increasingly
at risk. SonicWall’s patented Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection TM (RTDMI TM ) technology identified a total of 210,258 ‘never-before-seen’ malware variants. The threat landscape remains complex, with over 630 strains of new variants discovered each day.